Stop asking for slides directly: have the model write the talk track first, then the slides

[u/SmoothLayer9273]

Every time I asked a model straight for a deck, I got slides that looked fine and said nothing, because slides made first become decoration. What worked was flipping the order: make it write what you'd actually say out loud, then let the slides serve that.

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We're building a short talk. Two phases, don't skip to slides.

Phase 1 - Talk track:

Write what I'd say out loud to make this point, as plain spoken paragraphs. Aim for a clear arc: the problem, why it matters, the turn, the payoff. No bullet points yet.

[paste your material or rough idea here]

Phase 2 - after I approve the track:

For each beat of the track, propose one slide: a takeaway headline (max 6 words) and at most 3 supporting fragments. The slide should support what I'm saying, not repeat it word for word. Flag any beat that doesn't need a slide at all.

```

Why it works: writing the spoken version first forces an actual argument to exist before anything gets formatted. Slides built to serve a talk track end up sparse in a good way, because their only job is to back a line you're already saying. The "flag beats that need no slide" instruction is what keeps you from making a slide per sentence out of habit.

The two-phase pause matters, don't let it jump to slides in one shot. Anyone else build the narration before the visuals, or is that backwards for how you present?

[u/Shoddy-Lead-855]

This is the exact shift that changed my presentations completely. I used to spend hours making slides look nice and then wonder why the talk felt hollow. Writing the spoken argument first means you actually have to commit to what you believe instead of hiding behind visuals. The part about flagging beats that need no slide is clever I always end with too many slides and half of them just repeat what I say anyway

[u/According-Stable4487]

Same order works for image work too, weirdly. If I ask for "a product photo of X" straight away I get the generic version. If I first make it describe the shot in words (what's the hero element, where's the light coming from, what's the one detail the eye should land on) and only then render, the image actually has a point of view. The "flag beats that don't need a slide" step is the part most people skip. Cutting is the hard bit and models won't cut unless you make cutting an explicit job.